Vintage guns seized at airport’s cargo office

The accused submitted a forged letter from the ministry of defence.

RAWALPINDI:

Customs officials on Monday intercepted a prized cache of weapons dating back to the First and Second World Wars at the airport’s cargo office here. The weapons were part of a consignment that was being sent over to Ukraine by Darra Adamkhel resident Amir Ali.

Upon closer examination, clearance officials discovered that the consignment contained parts of vintage anti-aircraft guns and machine guns used during World War I and II.

“Superintendent Police Nasir Barlas suspected that the consignment of arms being exported were antiques and were being smuggled without following proper legal procedure,” said Rawalpindi Customs Deputy Collector Imran Bukhari.

Officials then confirmed that the five anti-aircraft guns and four machines guns matched the exact designs from 1914, the deputy collector revealed.

Subsequently, the Customs Department called in experts from the Archaeo­logy Department who confirmed that the arms were indeed antiques dating back to the early 1900s, Bukhari said. He added that that the arrested accused, Amir Ali, had arranged a forged letter from the ministry of defence, permitting him to export the arms under the pretext that they were recently manufactured in Pakistan.

The customs official said: “Most probably these arms were brought from Afghanistan where huge quantity of ancient arms is said to be dumped.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2012.